Frodo and Sam returned to their beds and lay there in silence resting for a little, while men bestirred themselves and the business of the day began.
The hobbits and Gollum take their leave of Faramir and his men. Faramir's scouts report no movement anywhere, and the hobbits travel by day, heading south, toward the Morgul Vale and Gollum's secret way into Mordor. Ithilien is quite lovely, but things get more ominous as the trio get further south: it gets darker, the earth shakes and rumbles, and Gollum is more and more nervous even though the place is deserted. Eventually, on a day when the sun doesn't seem to rise at all, they reach the crossroads where the road from Minas Morgul crosses the one that heads south from the Morannon. They cross it, and head into the Morgul valley.
**
There's another listing of the various plants found in Ithilien in this chapter, and it makes me wonder if anyone's looked into whether they have some symbolic meanings. Or maybe Tolkien just liked listing flowers and trees; I don't know.
Other than that, though, this is a fairly short and uneventful chapter; the hobbits walk through Ithilien, which becomes more sinister as they get closer to Minas Morgul, sleep, and walk some more. This isn't a criticism; I enjoyed reading it, but really, nothing much of note happens.
Next time: climbing climbing.
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3 comments:
My one gripe with Tolkien is the sense of emptiness in places like Gondor. From the descriptions and maps there's just seems to be nothing outside of the cities. We occasionally get references to houses and such but the land always feels empty. North Ithilien which was supposed to have been heavily populated and since abandoned, but the hobbits zip through it. I'd expect references to abandoned overgrown villages/towns they'd hide in, maybe recognizing camping sites used by Faramir's rangers hidden within a shattered tower, etc... It should have a Fallout vibe of ruined towns, villages, farmhouses but the sense I always got was of a pristine wilderness.
Yeah, this is a good point. I think there's some vague mention of Gondorian farms and such in some of the chapters of the last volume, but other than that Gondor really does feel like a couple of cities surrounded by Warhammer battlefields.
Maybe I should amend what I said earlier: Tolkien is good with physical geography.
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